Retail transaction stations, such as for example, the CRIND® (Card Reader in Dispenser) system for fuel dispensers manufactured and sold by Marconi Commerce Systems, the assignee of the present invention, have long included the ability for customers to pay for their purchase directly at the station using a credit or debit card. This is usually accomplished by providing a card reader in the station to read transaction account information from the magnetic stripe of the customer's credit card. In most cases, the customer can use one of several accepted credit or debit cards.
A more modern development in retail transaction station technology is the automatic recognition of customers, such as though the use of a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) transponder. An example of such a system is the TRIND™ (Transponder Reader in Dispenser) system for fuel dispensers manufactured and sold by Marconi Commerce Systems. Each RFID transponder communicates an identification code when interrogated by an RFID interrogator located at the retail transaction station. This identification code is associated with a particular customer. A controller associated with the station accesses a database that associates the identification code or other customer identifier with a particular transaction account to which the customer has previously authorized access.
The automatic customer recognition and payment is typically set up when the customer purchases or is issued an RFID transponder, or “tag.” The customer activates the transponder by supplying transaction account information, such as a credit card or debit card account number, expiration date, and the like. Typically the customer either calls a toll-free telephone number and provides this information to a customer service representative, or enters the information on a form and mails or faxes the form to an account center. Once approved and activated, the system greatly enhances the ease and convenience to the customer of making retail purchases at a retail transaction station, such as for example, purchasing fuel from a fuel dispenser. The customer simply brings the RFID transponder, which may be located on or in his or her vehicle, on a key chain, in a card in his or her wallet, etc., into the operative range of the interrogator at the retail transaction station. The customer is recognized, and purchases made at the retail transaction station are automatically charged to the previously supplied transaction account. An example of such a system is described in PCT Patent WO 97/24689 by Dresser Industries, Inc., Mobil Oil Corp., and Texas Instruments, Inc. entitled “Dispensing System and Method with Radio Frequency Customer Identification.”
However, the above described system lacks in convenience in at least one aspect. The system does not allow the customer to directly establish or change the transaction account associated with his or her transponder in the system. A customer may have changed his primary transaction account to another financial service provider, or may wish to charge certain classes of purchases to a different transaction account. Thus there exists a need for a customer to be able to quickly and easily supply a new or additional transaction account at the retail transaction station, at the time of his or her retail purchase, or alternatively at his or her convenience, without requiring the customer to interact with a customer service representative, or to mail or fax in a form.